CIRCUMSTANCES OF LOSSPlatoon Sergeant Denzil Caltrider was a senior NCO in the R-2 (Intelligence) section of the 5th Marines. During the battle of Guadalcanal, on the night of 12 August 1942, he joined a patrol led by Colonel Frank Goettge, intending to investigate reports of a surrendering Japanese encampment. Caltrider acted as a guard for a captured Japanese sailor who accompanied the Marines as a guide.

The patrol was ambushed, isolated on its beachhead, and all but annihilated. Caltrider survived a night of fighting, only to be hit by machine gun fire just before the position was overrun. Initially listed as missing in action, he was declared dead as of 14 August 1943.

Many of us have read about the ill-fated foray led by Goettge but this is the first reading where a Marine was brought to life. This fateful journey was a critical scene in the 1943 B&W classic, “Guadalcanal Diary”.